I'm currently thinking about upgrading my system, and I've recently been turned on to how powerful a Mac Pro with dual-Quad Core Intel processors (8 cores) is in terms of processing power. I've been a PC guy all my life (hence the many years of Klikking), and I've also recently become a freelance 3D artist using 3d Studio Max. Needless to say, up til this point I was sold on a new PC. However, I'm interested in beginning to tinker with development in Unity3d, and it currently only supports Mac OS X.
I was doing research today, and I discovered that there are numerous people running 3ds Max on Macs pretty flawlessly using the software called Parallels. I realize that BootCamp is the best way to do it, but with Parallels I can operate 3ds Max right in the Mac environment just as if it were on a PC. Not to mention, for what I do, 8 cores is fantastic, and Mac Pros running the other stuff I use (Adobe CS3, Zbrush, etc) supposedly runs a lot faster than on a PC. Pretty cool, but I'm not compeltely sold just yet, because I'm still interested in doing graphics for The Games Page's MMF games, and I'm not too sure about how it would operate on a Mac, if at all.
Has anyone ever tried running MMF 2 (or Vitalize) on a Mac running just BootCamp, or more specifically, running Parallels and BootCamp? I'd try it myself, but I don't have access to an Intel Mac. I'd really love to know how it works.
I tried running MMF2 under Crossover without creating a proper bottle or installation and it threw some errors at me but click games themselves work like a charm. As ever though I'd just use Bootcamp for any serious use. Crossover and Parallels keep making mini-breakthroughs all the time though and it's come a long way since I last used MMF2 under anything other than Bootcamp, even then it was at a very fast speed.
But OSX+ctrl&mousewheel+small screen games= such an epic win.
Just a question though, are Wine and Crossover similar to BootCamp in that it just boots Windows itself, or is it more like an integrator like Paralells? I guess I'm more interested in trying to run the integrated stuff so that I don't have to switch OS's while I'm working on *whatever*
Just a question though, are Wine and Crossover similar to BootCamp in that it just boots Windows itself, or is it more like an integrator like Paralells? I guess I'm more interested in trying to run the integrated stuff so that I don't have to switch OS's while I'm working on *whatever*
Edited by the Author.
Bootcamp is a BIOS emulator to get Windows booted up, after that there is no emulation. Parallels is an app to run Windows within a window (or other monitor, which is mega awesome btw) and Crossover is just a way of playing pretend with .exe's to run as native applications.
On the beast of a machine you'll be getting you'll be just fine with Parallels I reckon, especially if you give it a lot of ram (tip: parallels splits the ram between the emulated OS and the running OS. So the more ram the merrier).
On the beast of a machine you'll be getting you'll be just fine with Parallels I reckon, especially if you give it a lot of ram (tip: parallels splits the ram between the emulated OS and the running OS. So the more ram the merrier).
If I go the Mac route, I'm definitely getting something high-end that would be able to handle video compositing and 3d renders anyway, so that's good news. I didn't realize that there would be no emulation involved after BootCamp boots windows. That's fantastic. I may do this after all.
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Edited by the Author.
Works like a charm. And it's free!
Never tried parallels...
